Pages

Friday, March 18, 2011

Lenten From-Scratch #1

Ross and I have our first overnight field trip with the Mountaineers this weekend to Pine and Cedar Lakes, so it was the perfect time to make the classic on-the-trail snack - from scratch!

This is perhaps the simplest from-scratch I have ever tried, and I am absolutely stymied as to why I hadn't ever done this before. Now I know - and will never go back! PLUS, the combinations are endless, which means I can be creative and use whatever we have around the kitchen. And like I always say - when you make it yourself YOU control the ingredients. Any diet/allergy/moral concerns SOLVED.

Side note - I was stoked to find local honey from Guilmette's Busy Bees IN A HONEY BEAR!!!!!

To make, but not bake:

Mix the honey, almond butter and oil in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.

Do you ever measure out honey and start to hate your life? I used to! A couple tips: if the recipe calls for the same amount of oil and honey, measure out the oil first, then it coats the measuring cup and the honey will come right out - like magic!

If not, then use a heavy duty clip on the handle of the pan and let gravity do the work without you.

Then add the granola (and I threw in some chocolate chips too) into the pan and mix to coat.

Press the mixture into a 9 x 9 or similar dish and let it cool in the fridge.

Cut up in desired shape, and they are good for about 4-5 days! If they last that long...

SOOOO great - can't wait to try other combinations!

I have been wanting to make my own granola bars ever since my friend Brandi made them as part of a project in our graduate program. Last fall, we all had to temporarily change a behavior in some manner to a more environmentally responsible behavior. Brandi gave up using any single-serving packaging, meaning no store-bought granola bars or ketchup packets or coffee creamers or a can of soda or yogurt in the smaller cups... you get the point.

This is another of the many example of how homemade foods are more environmentally responsible than store-bought foods, and also less expensive!

____________________________________________________

As I mentioned earlier, Ross and I are going to be gone camping this weekend... and then I will be at Holden Village with Hayley from Monday-Friday of next week for my spring break... what I'm really saying is that I probably won't post again until after March 25!

It will be so long with out blogging... but Holden's kitchen is absolutely incredible and all from scratch, so I promise I will come back with lots of pictures and stories from my time time there.